FACES Tempe Center for the Arts Oct 3

FACES Tempe Center for the Arts Oct. 3, 2009 - Feb. 6, 2010 The Artists

Each human face is a narrative about the journey of the individual. This exhibition features a wide range of artistic and scientific approaches to exploring faces from traditional portraiture to contemporary renderings.

Artists Joan Baron, Scottsdale Linda Tracey Brandon, Phoenix Bob Carey, Brooklyn, N. Y. Dan Collins, Tempe Bailey Doogan, Tucson Gary Faigin, Seattle, Wash. Zarco Guerrero, Mesa Ed Kennefick, Phoenix Jarbas Lopes, Brazil Dale Mathis, Las Vegas, Nev. Beverly Mc. Iver, Durham, N. C. Raul Mourão, Brazil Bob Powers, Scottsdale Alfred J. Quiroz, Tucson Chris Saper, Phoenix Henry Leo Schoebel, Phoenix Fritz Scholder, formerly of Scottsdale Vivian Spiegelman, Tempe Henry Stinson, Pullman, Wash. John Tuomisto-Bell, Phoenix Joseph Velasquez, Temple, Texas

Joan Baron, Scottsdale Baron received a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in Saint Louis and a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Chicago Art Institute. She works as a public artist as well as an activist for environmentalism and sustainable/green design. Much of her artwork is sculptural and includes a wide range of media, such as ceramic tiles, masks, mirrors, found objects and natural materials. In 2004, she created the “Edible Landscape Project” as a site-specific installation that explored local food production and landscape.

Baron continued… “I explore the faces of our ancestors through clay masks, organic materials and found objects. This ancestral environment speaks to ancient knowledge and wisdom and the sacred relationship between the land, wind, sun, the song of a bird and the honoring of the trees and all animals as collaborators in a rich bio-diverse world. Our ancestors understood this interdependency and the fundamental value to live sustainably. We are all indigenous people on this planet. This wisdom is our survival. ” www. joanbaron. com

Linda Tracey Brandon, Phoenix Brandon earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from the New York University. Her true passion, however, is art. She studied art at the Parson’s School of Design and the Nassau County Art Museum School of Art in New York. Brandon has been honored with awards from the International Museum of Contemporary Masters in San Antonio, Texas, and the Portrait Society of America. She currently teaches at the Scottsdale Artist’s School.

Brandon continued… “I’m very grateful to be an artist and to have the privilege of gazing intently at other human beings. How often in life are we allowed to do this? Unless you’re an artist, your opportunities are quite limited – when we hold our babies in our arms, as we gaze into the face of a beloved, as we stand watch over our elders on their deathbeds. I think of a portrait as a kind of companion to a life – a link to a time when my subject appeared to me and I reacted to him or her to the extent of my abilities. ” www. lindatraceybrandon. com

Bob Carey, Brooklyn, N. Y. This former Arizona resident studied photography at Arizona State University. His work has been exhibited at the ASU Art Museum, Tucson Museum of Art and the Holter Museum of Art. Carey is a fine art photographer and commercial photographer with clients that include SRP, Segway, Inc. , and “Essence” magazine. Carey often uses himself as subject and the work is a cross between performance art and photography. This series features Carey after his hair has been shaven, skin painted silver and body contorted into unusual and sometimes extreme positions. www. bobcarey. com

Dan Collins, Tempe Collins earned Bachelor of Arts degrees at the University of California, a Master of Arts degree from Stanford University, a Master of Fine Arts degree from UCLA and a Doctorate degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities from Arizona State University. He is currently Professor of Intermedia Studies at ASU, Co. Director of the Deep Creek summer art program and co-Director of the PRISM Lab, an ASU Partnership for Research in Spatial Modeling. In his “spare time” he is a father, artist and environmental advocate.

Collins continued… “I situate my work in the gap between the body and technology – between the handmade and the high-tech. Recent work focuses on interactive media, ethnographic research methods, game-theory and participatory ‘mapping’ as vehicles for celebrating subjective responses to ‘placemaking’ – a welcome echo of my early interest in site-specific sculpture. ” www. asu. edu/cfa/art/people/faculty/collins

Bailey Doogan, Tucson Doogan received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and a Master of Arts from the University of California Los Angeles. Throughout her career, Doogan has addressed conventions of female beauty, issues of aging and the human condition. She has been featured in major publications including “Art in America, ” lectured at more than 30 Universities and served on the Board of the College Art Association. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of Arizona. Loan courtesy of a private collector.

Doogan continued… “For the past 15 years, my painting and drawing has focused on the human body. Not ‘The Nude’ or ‘The Figure, ’ which are art forms, but the mutable body where flesh moves and changes and has infinite variety. Our bodies are full of stories. They are detailed maps of our experiences. This corporeal topography of hair patterns, veins, scars, calluses, wrinkles and flesh (both smooth and crenulated) speak of a life lived. ” www. baileydoogan. com Photo credit: Jack Kulawik.

Gary Faigin, Seattle Faigin is a Michigan native and began his studies at the Art Students League of New York. Later, he taught at the New York Academy of Art and Parsons School of Design. He is the co-founder and artistic director of the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle and is best known for his book, "The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression. " It has become a reference for animators, portrait artists, forensic artists and plastic surgeons. In addition, he serves as the monthly art critic for Seattle’s National Public Radio Station. Faigin’s own work explores themes of altered perception.

Faigin continued… “There is no landscape on earth with which we are familiar as the human face and none to which we react so strongly. It is the first thing we learn to recognize, and we never grow tired of looking at it. If we are always changing, then selfportraits should reflect that change. ” www. garyfaigin. com

Zarco Guerrero, Mesa Guerrero has been an active part of the Arizona arts community for more than 30 years. He is probably best known as a maskmaker, but he is also a sculptor, muralist, performance artist, poet, musician and community activist. He has studied and presented his art internationally in Mexico, Japan and China. During the 1970 s he was heavily involved in Cesar Chavez’s non-violent labor and civil rights movement.

Guerrero continued… Guerrero continues to reach out to the community through performance education programs for inner city youth, correctional institutions and the behavior health care industry. His work has appeared on PBS television and he has been honored with awards from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Today, Guerrero teaches drawing and painting at the West Campus of Arizona State University and regularly performs and exhibits throughout the United States. www. zarkmask. com

Edward Francis Kennefick, Phoenix Kennefick earned a degree from Northern Arizona University and is currently working towards a master’s degree from Arizona State University. In 1995, he was awarded a grant to study with artist Fritz Scholder at the Santa Fe Institute of Art in New Mexico. Kennefick’s illustrations have appeared in the “Phoenix New Times” and “Phoenix Magazine” and his fine art has been featured in downtown Phoenix galleries, such as M. A. R. S. Artspace, Modified, mon. Orchid Studio, Ice House and LUX Coffeehouse. Loan courtesy of Ted Decker.

Kennefick continued… “This mixed media painting was part of small series of pseudo self-portrait studies. Having read the book the ‘Naked Ape’ by Desmond Morris, I became interested in exploring ideas of identity personified by the physical appearance of certain animals. ” www. edkennefickstudios. com

Jarbus Lopes, Brazil Loan courtesy of Ted Decker. Lopes was born in Nova Iquaçu, Rio de Janeiro, in 1964 and graduated with a degree in sculpture from the Escola de Be las Artes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. He has exhibited extensively in Brazil and internationally in Spain, Korea, Portugal and the United States. His work appears in collections around the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Arizona State University Art Museum. Much of Lopes’ work appears somewhat crude, but the statements and materials draw together meaning and dialog about society and politics.

Dale Mathis, Las Vegas While growing up in Inglewood, Calif. , Mathis’ family and fascination with art helped shield him from a life of gangs and crime. He was inspired by the TV character Mac. Gyver and artists like Salvador Dali, who took things apart and found new ways to put them back together. After moving to Las Vegas, Mathis landed odd jobs as a construction worker and bouncer and used his urban experiences and industrial skills to become a self-taught sculptor. Today, his work has been featured in galleries across the country and on shows like MTV’s The Real World Las Vegas.

Mathis continued… “Based on Michelangelo’s ‘David, ’ this [work] is my modern interpretation of what I think David should look like today. The gears represent his thinking process. The power of the piece comes from the celebration of the underdog. That moment right before you (like he) conquer your worse fears once and for all. ” www. theartofdalemathis. com

Beverly Jean Mc. Iver, Durham, N. C. Mc. Iver grew up in Greensboro, N. C. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from North Carolina Central University (NCCU), a Master of Fine Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University and an Honorary Doctorate from NCCU. After teaching art at Arizona State University for five years, she returned to teach at NCCU. Mc. Iver is the recipient of numerous awards, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award. Her work is autobiographical portraiture that includes personal confessions and social commentary.

Mc. Iver continued… “My current work begins with a series entitled ‘Dear God. ’ It’s a series I began as a conversation with God about all the incredible things that were happening to me since I returned to N. C. Across the top of each panel is a short letter to God. Many of the events are things that happen in one’s daily life. They express the hope and joy of living as well as the fragility of life. Repetition is important in the work. It implies routine and consistency. ”

Raul Mourão, Brazil Loan courtesy of Ted Decker. Mourão lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has been actively showing his work in Brazil and abroad for nearly 20 years. His work includes two-dimensional art as well as sculptural installations and video. Much of his work is focused on mass culture, politics and the impact of media and advertising on society. One of his earlier controversial installations in Brazil included the plush doll likeness of then President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva whose government was rocked by bribery scandals and corruption.

Robert “Bob” Powers, Scottsdale After retiring from a 20 -year career as a barber, Powers took on a new career as a Deputy Sheriff for Maricopa County. Powers saw the county’s need for a forensic artist. After completing a basic composite forensic art training course at the Scottsdale Artists’ School, he pursued additional training at the FBI Academy and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Today, Powers is a specialist in forensic facial reconstruction and has completed facial reconstructions of more than 100 unidentified and deceased persons, from which about 50 percent have been identified.

“Whether buried deep with pomp and grandeur Or to the Earth’s far corners thrown When the story of my bones is told Please God, let my name be known. ” Bob Powers

Alfred J. Quiroz, Tucson After serving in Vietnam, Quiroz received a bachelor’s degree from the San Francisco Art Institute, a master’s degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Arizona. He was an artist-in-residence with the Arizona Commission on the Arts, a member of Dinnerware Artist Cooperative in Tucson and traveled internationally to teach and exhibit in countries including Mexico, China and Spain. Quiroz has taught at U of A for the past 20 years and has received numerous awards, including the Latino Artist Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Quiroz continued… “I feel it necessary as an artist to look at myself with the same satirical sense that I utilize conceptually in my other paintings, literally laughing at myself and the foibles of society that I have to endure. ” Quiroz, as quoted in the ASU Hispanic Research Center’s Chicana/o Art Book: Triumph of Our Communities: Four Decades of Chicana/o Art.

Chris Saper, Phoenix Saper has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and a master’s degree in health care administration. Her portrait works appear in more than 275 private and corporate collections throughout the United States. She is the author of Painting Beautiful Skin Tones in Color and Light and For Love or Money: a Business Handbook for Portrait Painters. Her work has also appeared in major publications such as “Artist’s Magazine, ” “American Artist” and “International Artist Magazine. ” She joined the faculty of the Portrait Society of America in 2005 and teaches on a regular basis at Scottsdale Artist’s School, Brio Fine Arts Center and the Mountain Artists’ Guild in Prescott.

"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in its proportion. " – Francis Bacon “The painted portrait has long been a tradition of love, honor and respect. It is not a photograph, nor is it produced by a machine; rather, it is a unique piece of original art, rendered by the artist’s hand. In each of us is our own unique beauty, and it is my challenge and privilege to find and convey the beauty I observe so that you may see what I see. ” www. chrissaper. com

Henry Leo Schoebel, Phoenix Schoebel received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Syracuse University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Maryland. He has exhibited and lectured nationally and internationally at the Phoenix Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution and the Biennale Internazionale Dell’ Arte Contemporanea in Florence, Italy. He delivered the 2007 Coomaraswamy Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, India, and was the first foreigner invited to do so. Schoebel has taught at Arizona State University since 1990 and was nominated for Professor of the Year in 2009.

Schoebel continued… “It is the more absurd elements of this new body of work that I want the viewer to focus on: the neo-cookie-cutter, expression-neutral, faces buried within my imagery, the automotive flake (glitter) imbedded in the final clear coats, the field of rhinestones that cover the entire surface of every painting, the chromatically intense candy-color palette or the worm - or macaroni-shape tube-bodies that often unite the faces. Should the viewer find one, or all of the above, ridiculously absurd, I have met my initial objective. ” www. henryleoschoebel. com

Fritz Scholder, Scottsdale (1937 -2005) Loan courtesy of Ted Decker. Scholder was born in Breckenridge, Minn. , and was an enrolled member of the Lusieno Tribe, although he often said he was not Indian. During his career he worked as a painter, sculptor, poet and teacher. During the late 1960 s he began a controversial series that included nontraditional images of American Indians called the “Real Indian. ” His intent was to address loaded unsettling clichés and the guilty conscience of contemporary American culture. Scholder’s work has been a major influence on new generations of artists. His work has been shown at museums including the Heard Museum, the Grand Palais in Paris and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. www. scholder. com

Vivian Spiegelman, Tempe Spiegelman received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Alfred University in New York and a Master of Fine Arts degree in photography from Arizona State University. She has been an active arts educator having taught photography at Maricopa Community College and the New School for the Arts. She currently is an art teacher with the Higley Unified School District. She has exhibited her work locally at eye lounge Gallery, Art Detour, ASU Art Museum and Sky Harbor Airport Museum.

“The faces in this exhibit represent a small part of an ongoing series of photographic portraits I’ve made of friends and family over the years. Portraits are mysterious and magical to me. Looking at earlier portraits, I’m often struck by how they reveal single moments in time as well as a bit of the future. ” Photo credit: Rebecca Ross

Henry Stinson, Pullman, Wash. Loan courtesy of Bonner David Gallery. Stinson was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and spent most of his childhood in the Pacific Northwest. He studied art at Washington State University and the Art Institute of Seattle where he worked with master impressionist Ron Lukas. He has been a working artist for the past 21 years and an art teacher for the past 17 years. He and his family make their home in Washington State because of their love for the four seasons and opportunities to paint and enjoy the outdoors. Stinson has exhibited his work throughout the United States including Arizona, California and Colorado, as well as internationally at the United States Embassy in Geneva, Switzerland.

“My love of painting the unique stems from my inability to resist capturing those unusual moments in life that make each of us step back and think. It may be a humorous thought or a moment of beauty or simply something that catches the eye and sits on the edge of the memory. ” www. henrystinson. com

John Tuomisto-Bell, Phoenix Tuomisto-Bell was born in Chicago and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University. He has been working with “lost wax” bronze casting for more than 20 years and worked in commercial foundries for 12. He has exhibited his works at the Shemer Art Center and Museum in Phoenix, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and the Foothills Art Center in Golden, Colo. His works are also in the collections of local museums such as Mesa Contemporary Arts and the Scottsdale Museum of Art. Today, he casts and produces all of his own works from his Tuomisto Bell Studio Foundry in Phoenix.

“I am involved in an ongoing investigation of the difference between individuals and collective society. There is safety in numbers, and as a group shared thoughts and ideologies are beneficial. However, these views can also become magnified and distorted – individuals acting for the group’s best interest but with detrimental affects. These manifestations are harmful to the group as a whole and strong enough to be destructive to outside groups as well. Recognizing this destructive nature is like seeing the forest for the trees or seeing the group through the individuals; by the time it is caught it is too late. ” www. tuomistobell. com

About Ted Decker and his collection: “I began seeking knowledge about and collecting art in the late 1970 s when I was in my early 20 s. Both quickly became passions that sparked an amazing journey which has led to chairing museum boards, completion of a graduate degree in art history, working in art museums, establishing an extensive network of international contacts in the art world, a collection of nearly 1, 000 objects, legacy investments in artists’ careers through the Ted Decker Catalyst Fund, and now to independent curatorial work and connecting people with art. In the early 1990 s, I began to collect figurative art with heavy emphasis on faces. I observe people closely and always begin with the face, the eyes. From here, rapid instinctual decisions are made about whether to engage or not, where truth and lies are told, and where the essence of a person is revealed. ” www. tedgdecker. com